Accepted author manuscript, 7.49 MB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - A superconducting thermal switch with ultrahigh impedance for interfacing superconductors to semiconductors
AU - McCaughan,, Adam
AU - V. B. Verma,
AU - Buckley, S. M.
AU - J. P. Allmaras, null
AU - Kozorezov, Alexander
AU - A. N. Tait,
AU - S. W. Nam,
AU - J. M. Shainline,
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - A number of current approaches to quantum and neuromorphic computing use superconductors as the basis of their platform or as a measurement component, and will need to operate at cryogenic temperatures. Semiconductor systems are typically proposed as a top-level control in these architectures, with low-temperature passive components and intermediary superconducting electronics acting as the direct interface to the lowest-temperature stages. The architectures, therefore, require a low-power superconductor-semiconductor interface, which is not currently available. Here we report a superconducting switch that is capable of translating low-voltage superconducting inputs directly into semiconductor-compatible (above 1,000 mV) outputs at kelvin-scale temperatures (1 K or 4 K). To illustrate the capabilities in interfacing superconductors and semiconductors, we use it to drive a light-emitting diode (LED) in a photonic integrated circuit, generating photons at 1 K from a low-voltage input and detecting them with an on-chip superconducting single-photon detector. We also characterize our device's timing response (less than 300 ps turn-on, 15 ns turn-off), output impedance (greater than 1 M{\Omega}), and energy requirements (0.18 fJ/um^2, 3.24 mV/nW).
AB - A number of current approaches to quantum and neuromorphic computing use superconductors as the basis of their platform or as a measurement component, and will need to operate at cryogenic temperatures. Semiconductor systems are typically proposed as a top-level control in these architectures, with low-temperature passive components and intermediary superconducting electronics acting as the direct interface to the lowest-temperature stages. The architectures, therefore, require a low-power superconductor-semiconductor interface, which is not currently available. Here we report a superconducting switch that is capable of translating low-voltage superconducting inputs directly into semiconductor-compatible (above 1,000 mV) outputs at kelvin-scale temperatures (1 K or 4 K). To illustrate the capabilities in interfacing superconductors and semiconductors, we use it to drive a light-emitting diode (LED) in a photonic integrated circuit, generating photons at 1 K from a low-voltage input and detecting them with an on-chip superconducting single-photon detector. We also characterize our device's timing response (less than 300 ps turn-on, 15 ns turn-off), output impedance (greater than 1 M{\Omega}), and energy requirements (0.18 fJ/um^2, 3.24 mV/nW).
U2 - 10.1038/s41928-019-0300-8
DO - 10.1038/s41928-019-0300-8
M3 - Journal article
VL - 2
SP - 451
EP - 456
JO - Nature Electronics
JF - Nature Electronics
SN - 2520-1131
ER -